Manchester United remained six points clear at the top of the Premiership. A controversially awarded penalty just before half-time was the first of four scored by the visitors.
Up to that point it had been evenly contested. In the driving seat at the break United's grasp got stronger as the second half progressed.
Young-Pyo Lee, one of four changes made by Martin Jol, got forward on a number of occasions in the opening stages but the left back couldn't provide a single killer cross.
Two of the other players returning for Tottenham, Dimitar Berbatov and Aaron Lennon hinted at causing United problems. The challenges flew in as both sides attempted to take hold of the game with little for either of them to show for it.
Neither side really got a grip on the game as we approached the half hour mark, there was plenty of good intent, but decent end product was at a premium and perhaps frustration over this was reflected is several rash challenges being piled into.
Didier Zokora and Jermain Defoe were replaced by Robbie Keane and Hossam Ghaly but the points were United's already. Sir Alex Ferguson replaced Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo with over 20 minutes remaining.
John O'Shea needed to go in goal after Edwin van der Sar picked up an injury, but Spurs could only manage a couple of half chances despite United's weakness.
Martin Jol: "Steed Malbranque stuck his foot out and that was probably what the referee saw and it was a difficult situation. It wasn't a penalty and that didn't help just before half-time.
"All we wanted to do in the second half was to get back into the game but we conceded from a corner and 2-0 down against Manchester United was difficult.
"I thought we started well in the first half but we gave away space behind our midfield and couldn't win enough balls so we changed it around and after that we had no problems. We wanted to do something different in the second half but we conceded from a corner and then we were chasing shadows."
"JJ had a little stress fracture in his ankle, so he couldn't play for a couple of months and then he had a very good game when he returned against Southend in the FA Cup.
"His second game against Arsenal was okay but he had a knock on his ankle. Teemu Tainio missed out with a throat infection."
Tom Huddlestone: "The goals either side of half-time did the damage. If we'd have got to half-time at 0-0 it might have been different, because I think we'd created the better chances. After it went to 2-0 so early in the second half, it was always going to be a big problem for us."
"It was a good game for me to be involved in personally."
Source: TottenhamHotspur.com